- 6 months ago
- #mlcc
- #church
- #churchonline
When faithfulness to Christ brings fierce opposition and even death, what sustains a believer through false accusations and violent rage? Stephen, full of grace and the Holy Spirit, faced charges that echoed those against Jesus himself, yet responded in a way that changed history. How did his final vision and prayer reveal the heart of true witness, and what might it mean for followers of Jesus today?
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/the-first-martyr
#mlcc #church #churchonline
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/the-first-martyr
#mlcc #church #churchonline
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00On February 13th of this year, 2025, in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
00:08a gang of militants took 20 Christians hostage.
00:13They went one time through the village and pulled the 20 Christians away from the rest of the people.
00:21Then they started going throughout the rest of the village, collecting all of the Christians.
00:26They went door to door, get out, get out, and don't make any noise is what the militants cried out to them.
00:34Open Doors Ministry reported on this. You can find it on Open Doors website.
00:40About 20 Christians came out, so now they've got 40.
00:4320 they've already got and 20 other Christians came out. They got 40.
00:48They went through the rest of the village again, found other Christians, a total of 70 of them,
00:54and brought them into a Protestant church where they killed them.
01:02They were not targeted because they were murderers.
01:07They were not targeted because they were kidnappers or rapists.
01:12They were targeted because they were followers of Jesus Christ.
01:15They gave the last great witness that any human being can,
01:27and that is their very lives for the gospel.
01:34Martyr means actually witness in the Greek.
01:37The ultimate witness is they gave their lives for the gospel.
01:41In the text today in Acts chapter 6, we're going to be introduced to Stephen.
01:47I actually met him last week, but he's the main character in the story today.
01:53He understands this being targeted, not because he's a murderer, not because he's a rapist,
01:58not because he's a kidnapper.
02:00He's targeted simply because he's a follower of Jesus Christ,
02:03the Nazarene, follower of the way.
02:05And when we look in Acts chapter 6 and his sermons in Acts chapter 7,
02:12if you looked at the title up, don't panic.
02:15We're not going to go verse by verse through all chapter 7.
02:18We'll summarize it because it's his sermon.
02:20It's a lot of text there, so we'll just summarize what's going on
02:23and answering the argument against him.
02:26But what we're going to see is that being obedient to God
02:29and doing the right thing may bring a person in conflict with others.
02:33That's how I originally wrote it, and someone in the first service said,
02:37you know what, maybe you ought to rewrite that and say,
02:40we'll bring a person in conflict with others.
02:44I agree.
02:49I think as we pray each week for our persecuted brothers and sisters,
02:53we sometimes forget the suffering that they go through.
02:58I mean, 70 people murdered.
03:01I'm not even going to tell you how they were murdered.
03:02We forget the suffering that our brothers and sisters are going through.
03:09And that statement sometimes, no good deed is left unpunished, happens.
03:16Again, they're not doing anything wrong.
03:19These Christians simply rounded up and murdered
03:22because they're followers of Jesus Christ.
03:24In verse number 8 of chapter 6, so open up your Bibles, Acts 6, verse number 8.
03:32So turn on your biblical device, whichever the case may be.
03:35This is God's word.
03:35We want to look at it together.
03:37We were introduced to Stephen last week.
03:39He became one of those that were waiting on tables.
03:41We found out that he's full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom.
03:45And he was selected by the congregation to oversee the distribution to the widows,
03:50the Hellenist widows that were being neglected.
03:53So we met him last week.
03:55Now he is the main character in this story.
03:58Look at verse number 8.
03:59And Stephen, full of grace and power, so that gives us a little more information.
04:05We know he's full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom.
04:07Full of grace and power was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
04:13Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called,
04:18and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and those from Cilicia and Asia,
04:24rose up and disputed with Stephen.
04:26So he was speaking in the synagogue.
04:27He was talking about the Christ, Jesus being the Messiah,
04:31and they're having a dispute with him.
04:34They're disputing with him.
04:37But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.
04:42They couldn't answer his argument.
04:45In other words, not in a sense I'm arguing with,
04:46but I'm presenting my argument to you.
04:48They couldn't answer that because what he was saying was right on.
04:52They just didn't like what he was saying.
04:53Then they secretly instigated men who said they hired liars.
05:00We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.
05:08So that's part of the accusation.
05:10And they stirred up the people, the people that were in favor of the Christians,
05:15but they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes.
05:18So we're talking about all of Jerusalem at this point.
05:20And they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, the Sanhedrin.
05:27And they set up false witnesses.
05:28Not only did they pay people to lie,
05:30they said, okay, now I want you to come in and give a false witness.
05:33I want you to lie in court.
05:34And they set up false witnesses who said,
05:38this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place, the temple,
05:43and the law, the law of Moses.
05:46For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, the temple,
05:51and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.
05:55That's the charge against him.
05:58That he is denying God in the sense of the temple being the presence of God.
06:02And the laws of Moses, you're saying that we shouldn't have to obey the laws of Moses anymore.
06:06That's the accusation against him.
06:09He's standing in the midst.
06:10Remember the Sanhedrin, a circular horseshoe, and the accused stands in the midst.
06:15So he's standing in the midst of the Sanhedrin.
06:18And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
06:26The face of an angel.
06:27We now come to a major turning point in the book of Acts.
06:34We move from Jerusalem and what's happening in Jerusalem now to Judea and Samaria
06:39and to the uttermost parts of the earth, just like he had told them about.
06:42It's a turning point.
06:43Things change from this chapter on.
06:46It expands.
06:48Things go in a different direction.
06:49Up to this point, the people like the Christians.
06:53They just were a little bit standoffish because of Ananias and Sapphira.
06:57They were a little bit concerned.
06:58But the people like the Christians.
07:01They seem to be nice people.
07:03They seem to love God and they're living a holy life.
07:06And they like them.
07:07But now they're angry.
07:09Now the people are even angry.
07:11So now we're going to see after this event that they're going to fulfill exactly what
07:16Jesus asked them to do in Acts chapter 1.
07:20It's exactly what he asked them to do.
07:21Acts 1.8.
07:23But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
07:26And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, which they had been up to that point,
07:30and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
07:34So now things are going to move from this chapter on and things change.
07:38We already saw Stephen full of faith and the Holy Spirit and wisdom.
07:43What a character qualities.
07:45What a great guy this Stephen was.
07:47He was kind.
07:50Stephen is the first one outside of the apostles that are listed as doing signs and wonders.
07:55Up to this point, it's just the apostles.
07:57Stephen's the first one selected.
07:59He's doing signs and wonders.
08:00And of course, he's proclaiming Jesus.
08:02And the signs and wonders are confirming the word that he's proclaiming.
08:05But this is the first time someone other than the apostles are doing signs and wonders.
08:11So he's preaching Jesus.
08:13And the opponents don't like what they're hearing.
08:15And they can't argue against him because what he's saying is correct.
08:18But they just don't like what he's saying.
08:20He has such persuasive power.
08:22That's the Spirit of God working in him.
08:25So these false witnesses label Stephen a blasphemer.
08:29He's blaspheming God.
08:30And he's blaspheming Moses.
08:32He's a blasphemer.
08:34You know, like Stephen, Jesus was accused of being a blasphemer.
08:37That was one of the accusations against Jesus.
08:39They claim that he was a blasphemer.
08:43If you look at Matthew 26, 64 and 65, Jesus said to him,
08:47You have said so, but I tell you from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power
08:53and coming on the clouds of heaven.
08:55Then the high priest tore his robes and said, He has uttered blasphemy.
09:00What further witnesses do we need?
09:02You have now heard his blasphemy.
09:04The same accusation against Jesus.
09:06Blasphemy.
09:09The synagogue of the free men were so irritated they couldn't answer him.
09:13They were just, so they hired wicked men to come and make false accusation to lie about him.
09:18I don't know if you've ever had someone make up lies about you in the workplace.
09:22You know how that feels.
09:24You've been there before.
09:25That doesn't feel good when someone's making up lies about you that are not true.
09:28They're making up lies about him.
09:32Here's his two charges that they said.
09:34Number one is, you're attacking the law and want to change it.
09:39Second charge is, you want to destroy the temple.
09:42Those are the two charges.
09:44You want to destroy the temple and you're trying to change the custom that Moses delivered to us.
09:48Those are the two charges.
09:49As we go through his sermon, he's going to answer those charges.
09:52He's going to answer those.
09:53In Mark and in John, we see this exact thing.
10:04And some stood up and bore false witness against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another not made with hands.
10:14He actually did say that, but they're misrepresenting his word in this case.
10:18He did say that.
10:19He said that in John chapter two.
10:21So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things?
10:25Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
10:30The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it up in three days.
10:37But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
10:39So he wasn't talking about the physical temple in Jerusalem.
10:41He's talking about the temple of his body and the resurrection is what that is.
10:45But he did talk about destroying the temple, but not that one.
10:49And actually in Matthew chapter 25, he talks about the destruction of the temple that's coming in AD 70.
10:54So now everyone looks at him.
10:58How is he going to respond to these charges?
11:01These are serious charges.
11:03Blasphemy carries a death penalty.
11:05These are serious charges.
11:06How is he going to respond to these serious charges?
11:11And it says they were alarmed because his face looked like the face of an angel.
11:17And I thought to myself, what does the face of an angel look like?
11:20I don't know.
11:22I've never, as far as I know, I've never seen an angel.
11:24I mean, although we're supposed to show hospitality because in doing so,
11:27some of them entertain angels unaware.
11:29True.
11:29I don't know what the face, how did they know that was the face of an angel?
11:33I'm thinking maybe perhaps, perhaps it was his face glowed with the glory of God.
11:41It's the only thing I can think of.
11:42Because I don't know what an angel's face looks like.
11:44Angels have appeared to people and they have human faces.
11:46But what is the angel's face?
11:48It looked like perhaps the glory of God shining off.
11:51You remember Moses when he went up on top of the mountain?
11:54And he spoke with God and he came down off the mountain.
11:57His face was glowing.
11:58Perhaps maybe something like that.
12:00With the glory of God showing on his face.
12:02Not anger.
12:04Not bitterness.
12:05Not resentment.
12:06Not how can you treat me this way.
12:08But grace and mercy.
12:12That's the spirit at work in him.
12:15So the high priest goes, okay, those are the charges.
12:18Now you may answer for yourself.
12:20That's all of chapter 7.
12:22His answer to their accusations is all of chapter 7.
12:25Again, it's too much.
12:26I'll just give you the paragraph and I'll tell you what's going on.
12:29So you can kind of see this train of thought as we're going through chapter 7.
12:34Chapter 7.
12:34If you ever say, hey, I want to know about the history of Israel.
12:36Go to Acts chapter 7.
12:38It is the best summary of the history of Israel from the calling of Abraham to the time of the Messiah that there is.
12:44It's great.
12:45If you say, hey, I want to know how Israel was.
12:47Go to Acts chapter 7.
12:48You'll see it.
12:49And this is also the longest recorded sermon in Acts.
12:53It's a whole chapter.
12:55I mean, it's 50 plus verses is this sermon right here.
12:57So in this sermon, Stephen describes how God worked with Israel in the past.
13:04Remember his charges against him were this, is that you're going to destroy the temple,
13:08you're opposed to the temple, and you're opposed to the law of Moses.
13:12Opposed to the temple, opposed to the law of Moses.
13:16Those are the two accusations.
13:18So verses 1 through 8, we have the calling of Abraham, that he is the father of the nation.
13:23Calling out of Abraham all the way up to the 12 patriarchs.
13:26So God has started something new with Abraham.
13:29He called him out of idolatry and brought him into a place that said someday this will be your land.
13:33And then down to the time of the patriarchs.
13:36Verses 9 through 16 is the story of Joseph.
13:40Joseph, God sent Joseph into Egypt.
13:42Why?
13:42To save Israel when the famine came.
13:44So God sent a deliverer.
13:46But do you remember what they did to Joseph?
13:48What did they do?
13:48They sold him into slavery.
13:51God sends a deliverer.
13:53They rejected the deliverer.
13:5417 through 29 is the birth of Moses.
13:58Moses now comes on the scene.
13:59And we know that Moses is the great deliverer of the people of Israel.
14:02He rises up and thinks it's time and he acts out of accordance of God's will.
14:06Nevertheless, God gives them a deliverer in Moses.
14:10But Israel rejects God's deliverer.
14:13Verses 30 to 34 is God sends Moses to Israel to finally deliver them.
14:18Verses 35 through 43, God delivers Israel through Moses.
14:26The thing is though, if you look at it, how many times did they rise up against Moses?
14:30They wanted to kill him one time.
14:32So God sends a deliverer.
14:33They reject the deliverer.
14:35Sounds familiar with Joseph, right?
14:38God sends words through Moses.
14:41What did they do when he's up on the mountain receiving the 10 words that we know as the 10 commandments?
14:45What are they doing at the bottom of the mountain?
14:46Oh, they're taking out earrings and nose rings and throwing into the fire.
14:50And poof, out comes this golden calf just all by itself.
14:54So what God's given the Moses' words on the bottom, they're performing idolatry.
15:00They're not even listening to God.
15:02They've rejected God's words.
15:04And then Moses said here in the text that another prophet would arise and you need to listen to him.
15:09Well, that prophet was Jesus and they rejected him as a deliverer.
15:1244 through 50 is the tabernacle that God instructed Moses to make.
15:19And he said here in this tabernacle, there'll be sacrifices and services performed that give honor to me.
15:24Brings reconciliation to the nation through the sacrifices.
15:28He laid it out according to the pattern in heaven.
15:30The tabernacle was given.
15:33Later, Solomon comes along and says, hey, I want to build a temple.
15:36I want to build a temple.
15:37Well, God says, I've just, wherever the tabernacle, which was a mobile thing, was around, that's where God's presence was.
15:43But Solomon said, I want to build a temple right here.
15:45God allowed him to build the temple.
15:47But he reminds him at the end, at the end here in verse number 49 and 50, that God's presence is bigger than the temple.
15:55His presence is universal.
15:57Don't ever forget that.
15:58I don't live in places made with human hands.
16:00His presence is universal.
16:02His means of dealing with people is universal, not just through the Jews any longer.
16:08Now, look with me in verses 51 through 53.
16:11This is the summary.
16:12This is his conclusion.
16:13And if you're going to ever preach a sermon, this is a tough conclusion to a sermon, okay?
16:18You can imagine how people would respond to this, okay?
16:21He just said, look, God has sent deliverers to you, Israel, and you have rejected them.
16:26God has sent his word to you, Israel, and you have rejected them.
16:29Not only that, God's presence was there, but what did you do?
16:32You participated in idolatry.
16:35All of the things that they were accusing Stephen of doing, history of Israel shows us that that's exactly what they were doing the whole time.
16:44Look at verses 51.
16:45Again, tough conclusion to a sermon.
16:48Oh, you people are such nice people.
16:51I think that I should just get along with you.
16:52No, wait, wait.
16:53I think I read that wrong.
16:54You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you've just been disobedient your entire history.
17:06You always resist the Holy Spirit.
17:09The Spirit speaks.
17:10You don't listen to them.
17:10The Spirit sends somebody as a deliverer.
17:13You don't do anything.
17:14As your fathers did, so do you.
17:17Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
17:20And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, the Messiah, whom you now betrayed and murdered.
17:28You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
17:32Do you see what he's doing?
17:34He's saying, everything you're accusing me of is exactly what you've done all of your history, Israel.
17:39I'm not doing these things, but you have done these things all along.
17:42If you want to put it in a summary, it's this.
17:46God's sins, they reject.
17:48God acted, they ignored and disobeyed.
17:52That's the summary of his entire sermon, the history of Israel.
17:57Israel is the one that has opposed God, not Stephen.
18:00Israel is the one who rejected the customs of Moses by disobedience and making things in the temple that they should never be.
18:06Tables of the money changers.
18:08That sort of stuff should never be in God's temple.
18:12So look with me now in verses 54 down to just the first part of chapter 8, verse 1a, if you want to say that.
18:21So he has this conclusion that's really pointed.
18:26Now when they heard these things, they were enraged.
18:30They were passionately furious at him is the idea.
18:33They were enraged.
18:35And they ground their teeth at him.
18:37I've never seen someone so mad that they're crying.
18:40Have you ever seen anyone that mad?
18:41I've never seen anyone that mad before.
18:42Did they just grind their teeth at you?
18:47And ground their teeth in him.
18:49But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven.
18:53He looks up.
18:54He's standing in the midst of the Sanhedrin.
18:56And saw the glory of God.
18:59And Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
19:03And he said, behold, I see the heavens opened.
19:06And the Son of Man, the title of the Messiah, the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
19:13But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears.
19:15We don't want to hear you any longer.
19:17And rushed together on him.
19:18He's standing in the midst of them.
19:19They get out of their seats and they rush towards him.
19:21Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
19:30They threw rocks at him until he was dead.
19:33And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
19:38And as they were stoning Stephen, Stephen cried out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
19:46And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
19:54And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
19:57He died.
20:01He turned the charges back on his accusers and said, no, I'm not doing this.
20:05You've been doing this.
20:06Nowhere in the sermon did he ever criticize the law.
20:10The law was given by God through Moses by the mediating angels.
20:16It was God's law given.
20:18He didn't criticize that.
20:21Stephen throws the accusations back to the Sanhedrin, the representatives of Israel,
20:26showing them that he's not guilty.
20:28They are.
20:28And they did not like that at all.
20:32They want to, well, they killed him.
20:34They murdered him.
20:37They were so enraged.
20:39Stephen showed that the accusers were the true apostates and idolaters who had violated the first commandments.
20:45It wasn't him.
20:46They had done that.
20:48God sent a deliverer, Jesus, and you rejected him.
20:51In fact, you murdered the righteous one.
20:54God spoke through him and you wouldn't hear.
20:57You rejected his word.
20:58So being filled with the Holy Spirit, he's got courage.
21:04I mean, when a whole 71 people, plus there's probably people in the gallery watching,
21:09when they start rushing towards you, I mean, can you imagine that?
21:12That'd be a little bit disconcerting, wouldn't it?
21:13I mean, 71 people rushing towards you with this intent in their eyes that you can read.
21:18You can see it.
21:19The Sanhedrin understood exactly what he was saying.
21:26There was no confusion in their mind.
21:28Israel was guilty.
21:29The law was temporary.
21:30And the temple had fulfilled its purpose and will be done away with.
21:35No need for a temple.
21:36Why?
21:36Because you and I are the temple of the Holy Spirit today.
21:39We don't need a temple in Jerusalem any longer.
21:41The great sacrifice has been offered.
21:43No more sacrifice needed to be given.
21:45And you and I are now the temple of the Holy Spirit.
21:51In the Sanhedrins, now think of it from their point of view.
21:54They're supposed to guard the teachings of Judaism, the teachings of Moses.
22:01They're to guard that.
22:02And anyone speaking against that, they have a problem with that.
22:05So from their point of view, Stephen is a blasphemer.
22:09And what happens to all blasphemers?
22:11They're to be killed.
22:14Leviticus 24.
22:17Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.
22:20So from their point of view, they think they're honoring God by killing him.
22:25Jesus talked about that, remember?
22:27All the congregation shall stone him.
22:30In other words, everyone.
22:32The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the name, shall be put to death.
22:38So from their point of view, he's a blasphemer.
22:39He should die.
22:41They're doing the right thing.
22:42And Jesus said, you know, they'll come a day when they kick you out of the synagogues
22:45and they'll kill you, think that they're honoring God.
22:48That's exactly what's taking place here.
22:51So while this is taking place, you met Stephen.
22:54He gazes up to heaven.
22:56He's not even looking at him.
22:56They rush towards him.
22:57He's gazing up to heaven.
22:59And he sees the glory of God.
23:01And he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.
23:07Standing.
23:09Not sitting.
23:12Throughout the New Testament, we see over and over again
23:15that when our great high priest is offered once for all the great sacrifice,
23:19he sat down at the right hand of the Father.
23:24Because he was finished.
23:25It doesn't have to be, nothing needs to be added to it.
23:27He's done.
23:28He sits down at the right hand of the Father.
23:30Now he's not sitting.
23:32He's standing.
23:34In fact, Luke 22 and Hebrews 10 has this idea of the finished work of Jesus.
23:38He sits down.
23:40But from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.
23:45And Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says,
23:47but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins,
23:51he sat down at the right hand of God,
23:54waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
23:59He sat down because the work is completed.
24:01But we see him here standing.
24:05He stood up to welcome the first martyr of the Christian church.
24:11I see you, my son.
24:13It's time to come up.
24:18Stephen calls him the Son of Man, which is a messianic title.
24:22It reminds us of Daniel chapter 7,
24:24where the Messiah was to come in his kingdom.
24:27And Daniel 7, in Daniel 7, we read this.
24:34I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven,
24:37there came one like a son of man, a title of the Messiah.
24:40And he came to the ancient of days, the Father, and was presented before him.
24:44And to him, that is the Messiah, the Son of Man,
24:46was given dominion and glory in a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.
24:52His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
24:55and his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed.
24:57We see here the universal reign of the Messiah, not just with the Jews.
25:01Could you imagine how they felt about that too?
25:03What?
25:04You're talking about the universal reign?
25:05No, no, God's working only with the Jews.
25:08No, no, God's working with the nations now through his Messiah,
25:10and through his witnesses in the world.
25:15It's the universal reign of the Messiah that's seen here in Daniel 7,
25:18and that's what he's calling to.
25:19God is now working with the nations, not just with Israel.
25:23And this is the last time the Son of Man title is used in the Bible.
25:27It's not, we don't ever hear it again.
25:30They couldn't accept his vision.
25:31They called it blasphemy.
25:34And the description of the stoning was more mob-like than actual the practice.
25:38If you go back and read the practice of stoning, it's really quite gruesome.
25:41But this is more like they were so mad that they couldn't control their passion,
25:45and just everyone just started throwing rocks at them.
25:48It was like mob-like.
25:51And then he says, receive my spirit.
25:55Receive my spirit.
25:56Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
25:58These are the words of an ancient Jewish prayer that children were to recite at bedtime.
26:03Kind of like we say, Lord, I lay me down to sleep, pray my soul, you know, the Lord to keep.
26:08So it's kind of like that.
26:09It was some, the Jewish children would recite it before going to bed.
26:12And that comes from Psalm 31.5.
26:16Into your hand I commit my spirit.
26:19You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
26:21So a Jewish child would recite this prayer to Psalm 31.5 right before bedtime, right before they went to sleep.
26:29He also said then, receive my spirit and do not hold the sin against them.
26:33Doesn't that sound like someone else?
26:35Sounds like Jesus on the cross, right?
26:37Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
26:39Luke 23, do not hold it.
26:43It echoes Jesus' words from the cross.
26:46Luke 23, and Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
26:51And they cast lots to divide his garment.
26:54Joseph Parker was a preacher a long time ago.
26:57As a young man, he used to debate in the mining fields of England and on the town green, the common area in town,
27:03with infidels and atheists.
27:04As an infidel one shouted at him, what did Christ do for Stephen when he was stoned?
27:11Parker said the answer was given to him like inspiration from heaven.
27:14He gave him grace to pray for those who stoned him.
27:19That's hard.
27:20I don't know how much time these 70 Christians had before, but to pray for people who are about ready to murder you, that's pretty tough.
27:35And then the text says, he fell asleep.
27:38This could be in fulfillment of the bedtime prayer he just prayed.
27:44He fell asleep.
27:47He fell asleep with the vision of his risen Lord at God's right hand, still fresh on his mind.
27:55Here I am.
27:59His witness now comes to an end, but another story is now beginning.
28:03It's a story of a man named Saul, who's going to play a big role through the book of Acts.
28:10There's no indication that Saul threw any stones at Stephen.
28:13We are not told that.
28:15We're simply told that he guarded the clothing of those who did throw stones at him.
28:21So they didn't want to be encumbered by their clothing.
28:23So they took off the clothing so they could properly throw rocks and kill him.
28:28He gave his approval by doing that.
28:30He agreed with what they were doing.
28:31He was all for what they were doing.
28:34And this whole event made a lasting impression upon Saul, who's later called Paul,
28:40because almost at the end of the book of Acts in chapter 22, he's still thinking about it.
28:46And when the blood of Stephen, your witness was being shed, this is 22.
28:49There's only 28 chapters in Acts.
28:51It's toward the end of the book.
28:53I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.
28:59So this made a lasting impression upon him.
29:04Paul was a Greek-speaking Jew from Cilicia.
29:07His hometown was Tarsus.
29:09So maybe he was actually in the synagogue of the freedmen, and actually he may have debated with Stephen.
29:14We don't know.
29:14The text doesn't tell us.
29:16But if he had gone to that synagogue of his native people, he probably would have met Stephen and maybe have disputed with him.
29:22Now, we don't know if Saul heard Stephen's sermon that he gave in chapter 7.
29:28We don't know.
29:30Likely he did.
29:31He probably was in the seating area of those people that are watching in the gallery.
29:34He probably did, but we're not sure.
29:37But if he did, the witness of Stephen was successful.
29:41His witness?
29:43Giving his life.
29:44It brought fruit.
29:45It brought fruit in this man named Saul who changes the world with the gospel.
29:52He goes and starts churches, and he writes books in the New Testament.
29:56His witness paid off, didn't it?
30:01Remember this.
30:02Sometimes it's the third party that responds to a gospel presentation.
30:08You're giving a gospel presentation to this person,
30:11but this person here and this person here is also listening to what you have to say.
30:15Often it's the third person in a gospel presentation that's paying attention.
30:24Never forget that the third party who may be listening to your witness,
30:28not the person ahead of you, but off to the side.
30:32There's a story about that that Pastor Donald Shelby told in Bold Expectations,
30:37is in the days of East Germany.
30:39Now, Teresa and I were missionaries in East Germany.
30:40We arrived in 95.
30:42Wall came down in 89.
30:43So we're looking at about, what, six years?
30:45After the wall came down.
30:47So we were in East Germany.
30:48We met many of these Christians that underwent things like this, not exactly this.
30:54But Pastor Shelby said,
30:57In the days when East Germany lived under an oppressive regime,
31:00a young man deeply involved in the life of a church community was seized by the communists
31:05and never returned.
31:07Sometime later, another young man, well-known as a hardened leader in the communist organized youth movement,
31:14began attending youth meetings and worship services at the same church this kid came from,
31:19young man came from.
31:20The congregation's suspicions were aroused.
31:23Rightly so.
31:24They knew who this guy was.
31:25Is he coming in to spy on us?
31:27Makes sense.
31:27And the pastor took the fellow aside and asked,
31:31Why are you coming to church?
31:33This is what he said.
31:35You know that fellow from your church who was seized and taken away?
31:39Of course, responded the pastor.
31:40I knew him well.
31:42But we've not heard from him since.
31:43Well, said the visitor,
31:46I saw him when he was being harassed and tortured.
31:50Not only did he refuse to betray his friends,
31:52but through it all he never showed any bitterness toward his tormentors.
31:56Even in the hour of death,
31:57there was no anger towards those who were about to kill him.
32:01Instead, he spoke of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, and God's love.
32:05The young man concluded,
32:07And when I saw him die,
32:09I knew I must come.
32:10In spite of all that it will cost me to learn of this Christ
32:16and the love for our enemies that strengthened him in his last hours.
32:21Sometimes it's a third party that's paying attention to the gospel presentation.
32:30Someone's always watching.
32:32And our response is it may be the third party that's paying attention.
32:38That God opens their eyes for salvation.
32:40What a man.
32:42Someday I want to talk to him.
32:46I want to ask him,
32:47How could you stand there when you knew they were going to kill you
32:50and you didn't get angry or bitter or resentful?
32:53How could you do that?
32:55And I'm guessing he's going to say to me,
32:57It's because the Spirit of God that dwells within me.
33:00That's the only thing.
33:02I couldn't do it on my own.
33:04Our brothers and sisters who are suffering around the world
33:07giving the ultimate witness their lives for the gospel.
33:18God is at work with them,
33:21witnessing to a world who has rejected his word and his Messiah.
33:26Let's pray.
33:28Father, thank you.
33:28Father, thank you.
33:32I'm moved deeply.
33:34Father, when I hear this story,
33:37it's hard for me to grasp what's going on here
33:41because I do not believe I could behave this way
33:46unless your grace comes to me in that moment.
33:49Father, sometimes we do the right thing
33:55and we enter into conflict for it
33:58because we're doing the right thing.
34:02I thank you, Father, for this man
34:04and his witness and his sermon
34:07and how you saved Saul
34:10and made him a Paul
34:13and preached the gospel to Gentiles of which I am one.
34:17Thank you, Father.
34:19I pray in Jesus' name.
34:21Amen.
Comments